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Hulk
: "I know you're angry." : ''"Oh, no, we're way past that. I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade." :: ―Wanda Maximoff and Bruce Banner (''Avengers: Age of Ultron'')'' ''Doctor''' Robert Bruce Banner''' is a renowned scientist in the fields of Biochemistry, Nuclear Physics, and Gamma Radiation. His father, David Banner, was a geneticist who in the late 1960's attempted to create a superior version of the Super Soldier Serum, which originated in Captain America decades before in World War II. The crazed David Banner's experiments on himself resulted in his son Bruce developing a buried genetic mutation which held unlocked within it an enhanced, but highly unstable version of the Super Soldier Serum. Orphaned aftger a traumatic incident at the age of 4, Bruce would eventually be adopted and live with the Krenzler family. Once an adult, Bruce Banner would eventually go into work in the exact same field that his father studied in. Having a natural gift in genetics, Bruce would be invited onto a top-secret government-backed project in the early 2000's which, unbeknownst to him, once again sought to recreate the effects of Abraham Erskine's Super Soldier Serum, built upon the ashes of his father's work in the 60's. When an early-phase nanomed experiment involving gamma radiation goes awry, the mild-mannered scientist found his already-mutated genome unleashed, evolving into something much more powerful. When angered or provoked, he would transform into the rage-fueled and nearly mindless green-skinned monster known as the Hulk. Fearful of the damage that the Hulk could inflict, Banner eventually chose to live a discreet life in remote parts of the world, working to cure the sick and help the poor while trying to elude those who would take advantage of his ability to change into the enormous green menace. However, the primary goal in his life has always been his quest to cure his condition, and to find a way to live with his curse if there is indeed no cure. Biography Early life Childhood Robert Bruce Banner was born on Thursday, December 18, 1969. As the son of a real-life mad scientist, Bruce had a less-than-idyllic childhood. Bruce's father, David Banner, was a genetics researcher who used the original Super Soldier Serum as a basis to perform dangerous and unethical experiments, eventually creating a serum of his own with the goal of trying to improve human DNA. Despite orders from his superiors that forbade any trials involving human subjects, David decided to test his new serum on himself. However, the effects proved temporary and the experiment was seemingly fruitless. Once David's wife gave birth to their son, the elder Banner realized his mutant DNA had been passed on and attempted to find a cure for his son's condition. When the government, represented by Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, shuts down his research after learning of his dangerous experiment, David, in a fit of rage, causes a massive meltdown of the facilities' gamma reactor, and then sets off an experimental Gamma Bomb. Upon heading home in order to, in his own words, "put his son out of his misery", he accidentally kills his wife. After David Banner's institutionalization, 4-year old Bruce is sent into foster care and adopted, taking on the last name Krenzler, and believing both his biological parents to be deceased. Young Bruce is a withdrawn and closed child, rarely outwardly expressing emotion even in extreme cases, with patches of green skin appearing when he does feel. David Banner's experiments on himself were mostly fruitless, but encoded within Bruce's DNA was an inactive but highly potent form of the Super Soldier Serum. This same serum actually held the key to the regenerative power that David Banner hoped to replicate, but Bruce unknowingly suppressed his capabilities as a young child, likely due to the trauma he endured. Throughout his life, the repressed memories of his parents, the explosion and his young life manifest themselves as intense nightmares that leave Bruce shaken and disturbed but unable to conjure the memories. Bruce Banner endures a life without a past, yet filled with dreams. Encouraged by his foster mother, Mrs. Krenzler, he decides to pursue a career as a geneticist, as it was his father's profession. As he grew up, he started going by his middle name. Unaware that there is a monster inside him, Bruce continually struggled with fits of anxiety, embarrassment and rage. College life and early career Years later Bruce is a brilliant student determined to begin a career in genetics. He is supported by his girlfriend and equally brilliant fellow researcher-in-training, Betty Ross. Bruce met Betty Ross while in college, where they fell in love. Once, at Harvard University, the couple had participated in an experiment involving intense hallucinogens. They soon graduated and moved on to Willowdale, Virginia, first working together at Culver University as instructors, where Bruce specialized in Nuclear Physics, Biochemistry, and was a member of the Bio-science Department. During that time, he was involved in praised work on anti-electron collisions and gamma radiation, becoming one of the foremost geniuses of his generation. Banner later met Erik Selvig, another one of the university's instructors. However, things would soon take another downturn in Bruce's life. Betty unexpectedly dumps Bruce, saying she has tired of his cordoned off emotional terrain and resigns herself to remaining an interested onlooker to his quiet life. After some bonding after the break up, the two decide to remain friends, citing their frequent interaction as colleagues. By 2003, both Bruce and Betty leave Culver University for better opportunities, finding themselves in a high-paying position as researchers working at the bionuclear research facility of the University of California, Berkeley. As an experienced genetic scientist, Bruce studied the effects of gamma radiation on damaged tissue during his work at Berkeley. Knowing of his father's work in the past, Thunderbolt Ross, now an Army General and the estranged father of Betty Ross, would approach Bruce Banner (at that time still going by his adopted name, Krenzler) with a proposition to develop the basic science for what would eventually contribute to the Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project, a top-secret effort started by Ross as a way to try and recreate Erskine's original Super Soldier Serum using left over samples from some of Ross's previous experiments. Bruce uses the repairing capabilities of small nano-machines simply called "nanomeds", to act as a repairing agent which keeps the subject alive during the dangerous procedure. Once activated by a device called a Gammasphere, the nanomeds work to regenerate living tissue while the gamma acts as a catalyst to activate the serum. During the first few years, the experiments go better than planned, the success being credited to the use of copious amounts of gamma radiation, which replaced the lower-energy vita radiation from Project Rebirth. However, with the limited supply of Super Soldier Serum dwindling with each experiment, the nanobots soon begin to result in out-of-control cellular growth, making them invariably fatal to the amphibian test subjects. The military-industrial company Atheon, represented by the unscrupulous Major Talbot, becomes interested in the research to build self-healing soldiers of their own. Thunderbolt Ross intentionally withholds the true intent of the project from Bruce and Betty, who have been led to believe that all of their research is working towards improving radiation resistance. Ross is heavily concerned for his daughter's safety around Bruce, and, upon learning of the two's progress towards synthesizing a successful serum, begins to investigate further. Gamma accident One day, as Bruce, Betty and their colleague, Harper, continue to make progress in their experiments, they experience a freak lab accident during a routine power-up when there is an overload of the nanobots, with Harper stuck in the lab testing room. Bruce saves Harper and takes the brunt of the gamma radiation himself. Later, as Bruce sits in a hospital bed recovering from the accident, he tells Betty that he's never felt better, which she can't fathom due to the fact that the nanomeds have killed everything else they've touched. Bruce speculates that this is a sign that the Super Soldier Serum has finally been successfully recreated. In truth, the radiation has intertwined with Bruce's already-altered DNA, compounding the strength and effects of the altered Super Soldier Serum that was introduced by the nanomeds. David Banner reappears, having escaped from the mental asylum in which he was incarcerated, and begins infiltrating his son's life, working as a janitor in the lab building. The night of the accident, his father confronts him, revealing their relationship and hinting at the mutation in his son. Using Bruce's DNA, he begins experimentation on animals. Soon after, the building rage within Bruce stemming from all of the stresses building up around him (repressed memories, his father, Betty, Talbot and the accident) activates his gamma-radiated DNA, triggering Bruce's first transformation into the green Hulk. Bruce's inner beast is unleashed, and he suddenly becomes one of the most powerful beings on the face of the earth. His father sees him in his transformed state, and is in both awe and horror of what he has created, deepening his obsession. researcher freshly graduated working at the bionuclear research facility of the University of California, Berkeley Betty Ross, has tired of Bruce's cordoned off emotional terrain and resigns herself to remaining an interested onlooker to his quiet life